Garden Inventory: January 2011

As regular readers of this blog will know, over the past few months I have been establishing a vegetable garden at our (new) red house.

I was fortunate that the previous owners left a bare patch of about 20 square metres (215 square feet) at the back of the backyard when they took their cubbyhouse with them.  This spot has become my main vegetable garden.

In addition, I have planted a number of fruit trees to add to the existing orange and lemon trees, I have underplanted some of the roses with herbs, and I have planted nasturtiums and a few extra vegies under the new, not-yet-producing fruit trees.

The last few months, while hot, have not been as extreme as the usual Adelaide summer.  While there have been many days over 30C (86F), I don't think we have had any days over 40C (104).  We also haven't been affected by the floods in other parts of the continent.

I have grown almost all the vegetables from seed but have purchased some of the herbs in punnets.  I prefer to grow heirloom varieties from seed although it does take longer for the garden to start producing.  For example, my eggplants are only just coming into fruit and the capsicums are still not flowering.  Fortunately, Adelaide has a long, hot growing season.

The fertility of the soil has been a concern and I've been improving it with blood and bone fertiliser, worm castings, pea straw (purchased) and compost. I have also been bringing home some of the used coffee grounds from our coffee machine at work to use as a mulch and to add to the compost.  In a few months I hope to purchase a couple of chooks, who will be set to work producing more fertiliser!

With the dramatic increases in food prices caused by the recent, enormously destructive floods across Australia, I am very happy to have my little garden.

Here is a list of the edible plants in the garden, keeping in mind that many of them aren't producing yet, and that some are grown in very small quantities.  An asterisk indicates that the crop is currently bearing.

Fruit

orange (Valencia and Washington Navel)

lemon

apple (Pink Lady)

plum (satsuma)

Tahitian lime

mandarin (Emperor)

strawberries*

blackberry

redcurrant

watermelon

Vegetables

artichokes

asparagus

eggplant

capsicum

tomatoes*

potatoes

carrots* (almost finished)

onions* (almost finished)

silverbeet*

perpetual spinach*

zucchinis and squash*

sweetcorn*

beans*

Herbs

basil (Thai basil and sweet basil)*

mint (peppermint, spearmint, Vietnamese mint)*

sage*

Italian parsley*

horseradish

chia

dill*

chilli*

oregano*

thyme*

comfrey

nasturtiums*

tarragon*

rosemary*